Possible treatment for chronic bowel incontinence
Thanks - that's an interesting link - The basic procedure seems to be very like the same kind of "minimally invasive implant" that has been tried for bladder incontinence. I am not an expert but reports on other IC sites seemed to suggest that the results for urinary IC were not overwhelmingly positive. Whether this new approach wil lbe effective waits to be seen - but I sure hope it does!
Actually it is not that "new" and tests published in 2005-6 included a report that:
"Incontinence: Nineteen patients, age 58 years (range, 37–71 years), with resistant incontinence for 6 years (range, 2–21 years) underwent stimulation. Continence improved in all at 24 months (range, 3–60 months), fourteen fully continent. Incontinent episodes decreased; 12 (range, 2–30) versus 0 (range, 0–4), P < 0.001. Urgency (P < 0.01) and quality of life improved (P < 0.05). Anal squeeze pressure (P = 0.001) and rectal sensation (P < 0.01) improved."
The link is at Sacral Nerve Neuromodulation for the Treatment of Lower Bowel Motility Disorders
Wikipedia (usual caution about treating this as definitive- but this seems fine) has:
"A 2007 review by the Cochrane Collaboration was cautiously optimistic about the results of sacral nerve stimulation in fecal incontinence, although it also concluded that trial periods of stimulation did not adequately identify patients that would benefit from the procedure, and that more longer-term studies were needed."
Hope this helps as an effective resource for bowel incontinence is long overdue.
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